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US cuts issuance of H-1B visas to overseas professionals: The Hindustan Times
Washington, May 28: Amid a growing backlash over outsourcing of jobs to India and some other countries, the US has sharply curtailed the issuance of H-1B visas to overseas professionals this fiscal year.
Washington, May 28: Amid a growing backlash over outsourcing of jobs to India and some other countries, the US has sharply curtailed the issuance of H-1B visas to overseas professionals this fiscal year.
Latest official figures reveal that just 45,471 H-1B visas have been issued for initial employment in the first half of fiscal 2003 (till March) as against a prescribed annual cap of 195,000. The cap itself is expected to be rolled back to 65,000 in the next fiscal year, beginning October 2003.
US officials say the drop over the past year is not due to any conscious decision on the administration's part. They attribute it to two factors: the continuing economic slowdown and the growing preference of American firms to outsource work. Indian tech hands have been the principal beneficiaries of the H-1B visas, which entitle a holder to live and work in the US up to six years.
Such was the demand in 2000 that American firms got the US Congress to treble the cap for these visas from 65,000 to 195,000 a year for three years.
The three-year phase comes to an end in September. Although the Congress is still to formally review and decide on the provision, the talk on Capitol Hill has been that the cap will revert to the earlier 65,000 visas.
Latest official figures reveal that just 45,471 H-1B visas have been issued for initial employment in the first half of fiscal 2003 (till March) as against a prescribed annual cap of 195,000. The cap itself is expected to be rolled back to 65,000 in the next fiscal year, beginning October 2003.
US officials say the drop over the past year is not due to any conscious decision on the administration's part. They attribute it to two factors: the continuing economic slowdown and the growing preference of American firms to outsource work. Indian tech hands have been the principal beneficiaries of the H-1B visas, which entitle a holder to live and work in the US up to six years.
Such was the demand in 2000 that American firms got the US Congress to treble the cap for these visas from 65,000 to 195,000 a year for three years.
The three-year phase comes to an end in September. Although the Congress is still to formally review and decide on the provision, the talk on Capitol Hill has been that the cap will revert to the earlier 65,000 visas.